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Speech - 

Philadelphia, "Fou- 
Oct. 28,1906 




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SPEECH 



O F 



SENATOR PHILANDER C. KNOX 



O P 



PENNSYLVANIA 



PHILADELPHIA, PA. 



OCTOBER 29th, 1906 









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The importance of the present campaign cannot 
be overstated. We shall do well to recognize 
plainly and frankly the undoubted fact that the 
peculiar situation confronting us is the result of a 
great revolt, the causes of which have been accu- 
mulating and strengthening throughout the United 
States for many years — the revolt of the people 
against domination by political coalitions, which align 
a compact force of managers in city, State and 
country for rule of the party — in short, revolt against 
"boss" tyranny. Let the justness of that revolt be 
granted, what then? 

In the first place, I say, most heartily, where 
there are local and municipal abuses, let the local 
stables be thoroughly cleansed ; let the work go 
on vigorously. The great body of the people of 
the State are not concerned, because there are 
struggles between Regulars and Independents here 
and there, except to bid God speed to all genuine 
movements of reform, and to sympathize with ad- 
ministrative reforms, with improvements in civic 
morals and personnel wherever they appear. 

I can and do view, with a perfectly open mind, 
the mistakes and offenses of party management in 
the remote and immediate past. They are not to be 



denied or minimized, and it is our duty to rid the 
party of such abuses ; and, where deeper shames or 
even crimes are charged, to investigate and punish 
sternly at the bar of public opinion and in the courts 
if the charge is made out. But it is also our duty 
not to exaggerate, not to assume the truth of 
charges, and to recognize as sensible, just, practical 
and honest men, all that has now been accomplished 
for reform and what, upon accurate analysis of the 
situation, our present duty is. 

Last year a Republican Governor and Legisla- 
ture passed various measures of great public concern, 
relating, among other things, to primaries, registra- 
tion and the ballot, which it is universally conceded 
will make such political coalitions as have existed 
in the past impossible in the future. 

Here, then, is not only the pledge of the 
Republican party that the movement toward reform 
is genuine, but here are the fruits of an awakened 
conscience, if you like, and of the highest motives 
respecting public affairs. It is the Republican party 
itself which proposed and accomplished these things. 
Let that not be forgotten. 

I believe in this State, in its present as well as 
its past greatness, in all the possibilities and 
promise of future greatness. I believe in the Re- 
publican party, in the virtue of its membership, 



and in its ability to meet the demands of the 
hour. 

I protest against the current derogatory views 
about the Republican party and the State of Penn- 
sylvania. I do not believe they are true. But, so 
far as they appear to be true, so far as there may 
be some truth in them, I say that Republicans are 
aroused, that they know their duty and can achieve 
it, and that- the Republican party of Pennsylvania, 
the dominant political force in this State, will wipe 
out any stain which has been drawn across the 
fair face of that goddess of Virtue, Liberty and 
Independence who personifies and typifies this Com- 
monwealth. 

The Republican party has offered to the voters 
of this State a ticket of unexceptionable character — 
men of standing, experience and courage. 

The candidates have given the people their 
solemn pledge to administer the offices faithfully, 
courageously and honestly, and their high characters 
stand as sureties for the fulfillment of their promises. 

The measures for which the party stands are as 
sound as the ticket is unexceptionable. 

The issue is the party's life and it cannot die 
unless it is destroyed by its own members, and it 
should not be destroyed now that we stand upon 
the threshold of better things. The Great Reformer 



4 

who drove out the money changers did not find it 
necessary to pull down the temple. 

The party, under the reform laws it has enacted, 
must hereafter be controlled directly by the people, 
and there need be no apprehension as to the future. 

There will be no further mistakes in the selection 
of proper candidates for office unless the people them- 
selves make them. 

Individuals can no longer dominate politics under 
a system providing for personal registration, primary 
elections and a secret ballot. 

I hope to see the ballot further protected in State 
and Nation by a law, which, in my judgment, will 
go deeper than any yet enacted. 

The venal voter should be disfranchised and the 
man who buys him should share his fate. 

There can be no greater offense than making 
merchandise of the highest privilege and duty of 
citizenship. 

This campaign bears immediately on the recent 
and present administration of National affairs and on 
the State representation in Congress. It has an im- 
mediate relation to the President of the United States, 
in whom we all believe and whom we loyally follow. 

Think well upon the importance of maintaining 
a Republican delegation in Congress. Observe the 
coalitions between our opponents against Republican 



Congressmen throughout the State, and ponder on 
the danger, I may almost say the likelihood, that 
without great vigilance and labor the electorate will 
be deceived and under the impulse of the forces of 
fusion, Republicans will be swept out of their seats 
and Democrats or so-called Independents, men 
whose views are unknown or strange or antagon- 
istic to Republican policies, will enter them. 

The Democratic platform contains a plank which 
sneeringly charges the Republican administration and 
President Roosevelt by name with carrying on a 
pretended and insincere policy in mere imitation of 
Mr. Bryan's views. I, for one, resent with intense 
indignation this flippant and baseless pronounce- 
ment. Nothing could better illustrate the cynicism, 
the pretense, the bad faith, and the stupidity which 
so often inspire Democratic counsels in Pennsyl- 
vania as elsewhere. It cannot be disguised that if 
the fusion ticket consisting of one Republican and 
three Democrats is elected it will be very largely 
by Democratic votes; and the Democratic party 
certainly will not be so blind to their opportunity 
and to political effect that they will not blazon to 
the country and throughout it for the next two 
years the claim that President Roosevelt and the 
Republican party have been condemned in Penn- 
sylvania the stronghold of Republicanism. 



6 

The Democratic platform says : 

"We congratulate the country upon the fact 
that the only prominence that the present Re- 
publican Administration has attained has been 
attained by a feeble and pretended application 
of the principles enunciated by Honorable 
William Jennings Bryan, the great Democratic 
Commoner, who is now regarded as the cer- 
tain successor of Theodore Roosevelt to the 
Presidency." 

Mr. Emery said at Schuylkill Haven, Pennsyl- 
vania, on October 17th, and I read from a steno- 
graphic report of his speech : 

"I am here to-day as your candidate for 
Governor on a platform of right. The Lincoln 
platform is right and the Democratic platform 
is right. There is no discrepancy between the 
platforms, and we stand on them both." 

You may be able to explain that Mr. Emery 
meant, when he uttered these words, that he stood 
only on a part of the Democratic platform and that 
there really are discrepancies between the two plat- 
forms although he specifically states there are none ; 
but who is there to follow up this record and make 
the necessary explanations in the thousands of 
places where the Democratic platform, Mr. Emery's 



speech and Republican defeat, if it so turns out, 
will be cited as conclusive proof of the repudiation 
of the President by the people of Pennsylvania. 

President Roosevelt has asked for a return of the 
Republican members of Congress. The Lincoln party 
in Pennsylvania has met this request by opposing the 
re-election of Republican Congressmen in seven dis- 
tricts. 

President Roosevelt [has assigned as his reason 
for wishing the return of Republican members of 
Congress that he desires no interruption of his 
policies. 

The Democratic platform of Pennsylvania de- 
clares these policies to be insincere and feeble, and 
the Lincoln-Democratic candidate says, no matter 
what he means, that he stands upon that platform. 

My proposition is that however sincere the 
Lincoln Republicans may be in their conceit that 
they are standing by the President, the irresistible 
deduction from J:he facts is that they are in ap- 
parent opposition ; that a fusion victory under the 
circumstances will be represented as a Democratic 
victory ; and, if it is so understood, the harm will 
be done, notwithstanding the good intentions of 
individuals. I have taken pains in a recent public 
utterance to acquit all fusion Republicans, except 
those opposing the election of Republican Congress- 



8 

men, of an intention to hamper or defeat the 
President's policies, but there is a marked differ- 
ence at times between the logic of a situation and 
the intentions of the actors. 

My own humble relations to the work of the 
present National administration makes me not only 
naturally indignant but regretful, that any party in 
Pennsylvania could betray such ignorance of the 
broad lines upon which it has been laid out and the 
immense deal that has been accomplished. Its con- 
tinued progress and development in its legal aspects 
has more recently been under the personal direction 
of a distinguished son of Massachusetts who honors 
us with his presence here to-night. 

I have the honor of presenting one who has 
devoted his great talents for many years to the serv- 
ice of his country in Congress, as Secretary of the 
Navy, and as Attorney-General of the United States, 
the Honorable William H. Moody. 



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